In 2018 the Food Bank was invited to participate and benefit from the first ever 9-1-1 Day of Service in San Francisco.  It consisted of thousands of volunteers streaming into pier 35 to help bag and box meals for needy families.  Dignitaries like then House minority leader Nancy Pelosi, and San Francisco Mayor London Breed stopped by and pitched in themselves.

The event drew media attention from:

Newspapers

–SF remembers: Sept. 11 ceremony honors heroes, marks somber day

–Volunteers Distribute 300,000 Dry Foods to Promote Charity and Help People

Television

–San Franciscans Join Other US Cities Remembering 9/11 Terror Attacks by Volunteering

–9/11 Remembrances in San Francisco and Vallejo

Radio

–SF Meal Pack for 9/11 Day of Service

And Online

–First Annual San Francisco Meal Pack for 9/11 Day

If there was ever a time to realize that hunger can be found in any city, in any neighborhood, perhaps it is now.  The San Francisco-Marin Food Bank recently opened a food pantry in the tony town of Tiburon – known more, perhaps, for multi-million dollar homes and breathtaking views of San Francisco Bay.

The pantry at the Hilarita Apartments, is serving more than 3 dozen families and was just upgraded to a public pantry, meaning anybody from the surrounding neighborhood can now access fresh, healthy, FREE groceries every Tuesday afternoon.

Marin Independent Journal Reporter Adrian Rodriguez stopped by the pantry recently and wrote about his experience…

Fresh produce, meat, bread and grains were set up in a farmers market-style food pantry in Tiburon, as volunteers greeted folks who picked up their groceries for the week.

“This is really helpful,” said 25-year-old Toby Taylor, who lives in the Hilarita Apartments complex where the SF-Marin Food Bank food pantry is in operation. “You wouldn’t think that this would be here in Tiburon, but it goes to show that there are pockets everywhere where people need a little help.”

The pantry is the first in Tiburon for the SF-Marin Food Bank. Although residents of the apartment complex have been benefiting from the pantry for the past few months, it opened to the public last week.

Read more of Adrian’s account, published on September 3, 2018.

Eat Drink SF brought together culinary giants from all over the Bay Area together for a delectable event that had foodies from all corners of the region clamoring for more.  What’s more, the Food Bank and the nonprofit CUESA were financial beneficiaries.

ABC7 was there…

..

We invited New York Times Best Selling Children’s Author Todd Parr to come volunteer with us, and dozens of his most loyal fans.  Not only did he roll up his sleeves and pitch in, he also did a book reading for the kids afterwards and signed free copies of his latest book “Love The World”

The event got some notice from Publishers Weekly.

Sometimes the best gift a nonprofit can receive is help upgrading its technology infrastructure. Epsilon gave just that.

Read more of this story from Biz Times Reporter Chris Rauber here 

Recently, a trio of 7th grade girls out of Marin decided they were going to take an innovative approach to helping raise funds for their favorite nonprofit, the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank.  They used their artistic talents and some help from their parents to create cartoon monster tote bags that they would then sell to help raise funds to help their neighbors in need.  The effort captured the attention of Pamela Fox, who runs the Marin Mommies Blog.

We love it when our local youth do something inspiring and amazing, so we were thrilled to see the tote bag project from Marin’s Mazie Girls.

Mazie Girls is a group of three local middle school girls who are determined to help make a difference in our community by raising money for a worthy cause, in this case the SF-Marin Food Bank. They’re designing and printing limited-edition tote bags featuring their original artwork that they’ll sell at farmers markets throughout the San Francisco Bay Area for five weeks this August and September.

Read more about the Mazie girls’ story, published on the Marin Mommies Blog on July 5, 2018, here.

The Food Bank recently put together a downloadable kit that would allow families to raise funds for hungry neighbors by hosting a lemonade stand.

ABC7 found it interesting and did a nice video about the idea below!

ABC7 Written Story

https://abc7news.com/society/solving-hunger-one-lemonade-stand-at-a-time/3628979/

The Food Bank’s Lemonade Stand Kit got some notice from ABC7 Reporter Juan Carlos Guerrero.

Here’s a way to keep kids busy this summer and teach them about philanthropy.

The SF-Marin Food Bank is urging families to set up lemonade stands and donate the proceeds to the food bank to fight local hunger.

Families can go to the food bank’s website and download a printable kit for the lemonade stand. It is located in the volunteer section. The kit includes a colorful banner, signage and a lemonade recipe. The campaign is set up so that kids can take charge of the lemonade stand.

Read more of his story published on June 20, 1918, right here.

Nearly $141 million in funding requests have come into the Board of Supervisors committee reviewing Mayor Mark Farrell’s two-year budget proposal, highlighting the needs of a city that has become a symbol of the sharp divide between the haves and the have-nots.

The board’s Budget and Finance Committee has begun holding hearings on the budget proposal, which is $11 billion in each of the next two fiscal years, and will make millions of dollars in cuts this week in order to fund other priorities.

Read more from San Francisco Examiner Reporter Joshua Sabatini here. 

For the past two years, KRON 4 has dedicated an entire week in June to cover stories about hunger.  This year, produces reached out to us and asked us if we had a particular program that we wanted to highlight. We chose the Food Pharmacy program.

Here is the story KRON 4 reporter Ella Sogomonian produced from our Food Pharmacy in Marin City.